Burton's Foods launches new division for food service snack market

Burton's Foods has launched its Out of Home Snacking division to make its brands available in a range of formats specifically for the food service snack market, which it says is worth about £80m.

The company owns and bakes such well-known brands as Maryland cookies, Jammie Dodgers and Wagon Wheels and bakes Cadbury's chocolate biscuits under licence.

The product formats have been designed to meet the needs of key catering channels including hotels, business and industry, vending, pubs, and travel and leisure outlets including in-flight and on-board catering.

"We're extending the presence of Burton's portfolio of well-known brands that consumers love to lead the field in quality out-of-home biscuits," explains Chris Bampton, business account manager for Burton's Foods, Out of Home Snacking. "We've developed and tailored our products specifically for the food service sector to enable us to capitalise on the growing out-of-home snacking market.

"The products we're launching into the out-of-home sector are consumer favourites guaranteed to drive sales and attract new consumers to the market," he continues. "For instance, Maryland cookies have a total value of £37m and are already enjoyed by 30% of households. Meanwhile, Jammie Dodgers is the No 1 children's biscuit brand - although we do know that 40% of the biscuits are actually consumed by adults.

"We've developed two-pack formats of our Maryland cookies, Cadbury Chocolate Digestives and Shortcake. Containing just two biscuits, these are ideal as part of an in-room offering in hotels, served with hot drinks in cafés, pubs and restaurants or sold on trains and planes," Bampton comments.

The product range is complemented by a range of dedicated support services, to ensure caterers maximise their snack profits. A detailed website includes brand information, sector insights and downloadable point of sale material.